Update, May 6, 2015: I am undertaking a Ruth Rendell "key" works project -- the books The Guardian recently noted as such the day of Ruth Rendell's death. First edition, first impression, of the author's first book, and the first of the Inspector Wexford thrillers. How is it possible that a woman who had led such a quiet, respectable, unspectacular life could have met such a death of passion and violence? Chilling, richly characterized, and ingeniously constructed, this is psychological suspense at its very finest. Given that those starred one of my favorite actors, George Baker, I am not sure quite how I have achieved that.

I am sure that a proof reader could have easily rectified the mistakes and, although I expect to see them in a self published book, it is unacceptable to find so many in a traditionally published ebook. While it is a manipulative move designed to try to add power to his explanation at the end, I think that information is only needed if something does not occur to the reader that they might figure out for themselves. Unusually, Rendell does not make any of the characters particularly sympathetic and that adds to the reality of the crime and suspects. There is very little for Wexford to go on but for a discarded match and an inscription on some of Margaret's books signed 'Doon'. Let’s face it, the clues in this case are fairly slight so it was a pleasant surprise that she manages to lay a convincing trail to the killer with such a weak starting point.

To Wexford, it simply does not make sense, until he begins to slowly uncover the layers of Margaret Parsons' real life. Which brings us back to Margaret, our apparently boring, somewhat religious, utterly unremarkable victim. What makes me sad is that Terrence Hardiman, who did such an amazing job narrating this, did not record the later stories when they were turned into audiobooks as I had loved his voicing of Wexford and Rendell’s prose.

Here’s the big thing that came out of my reading this book: The afterword in the edition I read discusses Rendell’s attitude toward the Shocking Content and how it is in line with what was believed to be Right and True at the time the book was written. He is not flashy and has no particular character tics, at least in this novel, that would distinguish him from detectives in scores of other procedurals yet I appreciated his matter of fact attitude toward the case.Although it lacks the polish of later volumes in the series, and Wexford especially hasn't yet assumed final form, it is a very capable first outing. I feel this just goes to show that all of us have past indiscretions that we have papered over and attempted to forget. Rendell's England is less than quaint (despite the amounts of tea put away), her world is distinctly darker and its denizens are distinctly more immoral.

It will be interesting to see Rendell's style develop as I continue with the series as part of a group read. I have mentioned before that my parents’ love of crime fiction played an important role in my formative years. The novel is somewhat outdated, dating back to 1964, but it’s a compelling story that retains all the charm of a well-written thriller. Unfortunately I think that this reveal does not really hold up, as it heavily reflects the novel’s age and aspects of the time in which it was written.From Doon with Death (the origin of the 'Doon' nickname is never explained in the book as far as I noticed) was quite a clever mystery with a radical (for its time) twist in its reveal ending. From long experience Burden knew that whatever may happen in detective fiction, coincidence is more common than conspiracy in real life. Parsons’ past and the wary community circling round her memory like wolves, the case builds with relentless momentum to a surprise finale as clever as it is blindsiding. I thought that there was a fair number of clues for the reader which allowed you to make the leap to the solution somewhat ahead of Wexford and Burden.